In taking this step the managers of Chautauqua felt that no loss would follow to the educational world, since similar work had been taken up extensively by endowed colleges and other institutions. After all, the greatest work of the correspondence college of Chautauqua had been to mark the way for others. To recite the names of those who have followed in Chautauqua's footsteps would be a long story. Suffice it to say, however, that the commercial possibilities of correspondence work were quickly recognized. Several "business schools" were early in adding a correspondence feature to their regular residence work, and even yet commercial branches like bookkeeping, stenography, etc., are the most extensively advertised of the correspondence courses. Perhaps a reason for this is that business schools find that correspondence students frequently continue their studies in a residence institution, and that correspondence instruction is not only profitable in itself, but is also an excellent "feeder" for the residence department. Another motive which has prompted the establishment of several schools has been the desire of certain publishing houses to find a new means of selling their books. Some of the largest of the schools began in this way. In one or two instances the original business has been wholly swallowed up in the magnitude of the newer enterprise, and the publications have of late been restricted to the needs of the schools. Scores of others have been attracted to the business by the very great extent and apparent financial success of of some of the older schools. Many of these purely commercial ventures bear evidence of a close approach to being fraudulent.

So far not many of the established colleges have gone into correspondence work. The University of Chicago was the first and most noteworthy of them. President Harper had been identified with the correspondence instruction of Chautauqua almost from its beginning, and it was but natural that when he went to his new and broader field he would take with him the methods with which he had long been familiar and of which he is the most conspicuous advocate in this country. Pennsylvania State College has several courses in agriculture which are given gratuitously by correspondence, and Baylor University, Waco, Tex., has gone into correspondence work to a limited extent.

Wesleyan University, Bloomington, Ill., has been giving degrees since 1876 for work done in absentia, after the plan of London University. But this involves no instruction whatever on the part of the institution, and scarcely falls within the scope of this paper. Taylor University, Upland, Ind., pursued the same plan for several years, but has recently discontinued it. The University of Wisconsin, the University of West Virginia, the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Rhode Island, and perhaps a few other colleges have experimented with correspondence departments, but have found them too unprofitable and unsatisfactory, as there conducted, to be continued.

This suggests the question why some of the commercial ventures, stock companies with an eye single to financial gain, have found profit in correspondence instruction, while Chautauqua and the colleges referred to as a rule, have not. In reply several things may be said: First, the fees charged by the stock-company schools are much higher than those of the colleges. A "course," equivalent to a year's work in a single study at a residence college, cost but $10 at Chautauqua, while fees of $100 and upward are common in the commercial type of schools. In them there are very few courses as cheap as $20, and those are short and inconsequential. A French course in the Chautauqua College of Liberal Arts, for example, was $10; in a typical stock-company school it is $72, of which $20 is for a phonograph outfit, making the net price of the instruction $52. The higher price is by no means unreasonable; the $10 charge was abnormally low, especially for instruction given by college professors of high standing and wide repute. The actual time per pupil demanded of the teacher by correspondence instruction is greater than in class-room

work, and the work done by the Chautauqua professors must be classed as pure philanthropy, and may be likened to gratuitous practice of famous physicians in the hospitals.

Not only do the stock-company schools charge more for their courses, but they have also arranged systematic methods by which the great bulk of the examination and correction of students' work is done by clerks and subordinates, to whom small salaries are paid. These people work under the direction of experienced men, and the text-books studied and questions to be answered by students are prepared by competent experts. Naturally the instruction given by clerks, even under supervision, is not altogether such as it would be under college professors, but the system is "businesslike" and in the best of these schools it is fairly efficient and satisfactory to patrons.

But the most marked difference between the colleges and the stock-company schools lies in the energetic "hustling for students" by the latter class, to use the words of the manager of one of them. Certain questions of scholarly dignity and professional ethics which might influence and restrain a college professor are not regarded by the "business men" at the head of the schools. Extensive advertising of the most alluring and optimistic sort is supplemented by organized systems of branch offices in the principal cities, and by an army of solicitors who cover the country very much in the same way that book agents and insurance solicitors do.

The operations of one of the largest and apparently most flourishing of its class may be cited as illustrating the methods which seem to be common to all of them. The advertising matter of this institution appears extensively in all the principal magazines and periodicals, and it has over twenty branch offices and employs regularly a force of 2,500 persons in all its departments. Over 350,000 students were enrolled in the first ten years of its existence, but for actual instruction only 26 “principals,” with a total of 358 "experts, instructors, and assistants" were required in 1902. Thus it will be seen that the greater part of the receipts from tuition go for securing and retaining students, rather than for instructing them. The reverse is true of the colleges, for in them practically all the fees for the correspondence work go to the professors; very little is paid for advertising, and nothing at all to canvassers.

As to the actual extent of correspondence instruction it is difficult to make a satisfactory statement. The conditions of enrollment in the stock-company schools are such that it is impossible to state at any one time how many students are actually studying and how many have finally dropped their work. A pupil may usually take as long as he wishes to complete his course, though some schools limit the time in certain lines to five years. A name once enrolled is therefore continued on the lists indefinitely. Some students drop their studies for long intervals and resume them after months and even years of inaction. Others may send in a paper only about once in six months, but they are still rated as students as long as any lessons paid for have not been taken. Of course the great majority of those who lose interest in their work for a few months, or even weeks, will not be heard from again, but that can not be assumed for any particular case. The managers of the schools themselves therefore do not know definitely how many activ● students they have, and when asked for estimates usually refuse to make them or else give the whole number enrolled from the beginning of the school. In the University of Chicago a course lapses if not completed in a year, and, as ample records are kept, it is easy to determine the number actively at work at any given time. This, however, is not generally the case.

The numbers which are reported in connection with these schools are undoubtedly impressive. With one of the schools claiming over 350,000 students, the claims of the rest must be set in proportion, and the institution which can not refer to at least 10,000 is small indeed. But as representing present conditions these figures are wholly misleading for the reasons described. If the numbers usually given to the public be

divided by 6 the result would probably exceed the number of bona fide active students at any one time. This ratio, 6 to 1, is that shown between the total enrollments (4,224) and the number active at the end of the year 1901-2 (708) in the correspondence department of the University of Chicago. The commercial schools would not show nearly so high a proportion of those who complete the courses for which they are entered, and consequently the ratio of those remaining at any particular time, as compared to the total enrollments, would be less in them than in the university. The ratio is, however, affected by the age of the school considered, for of course the older the school the smaller the proportion of the pupils who now remain.

Nearly half of the replies to an inquiry recently made indicated that the writers could not be classed as correspondence instructors of a legitimate type. Some merely seek to sell books or instruments, and, notwithstanding the wording of their advertisements, it is apparent that they have no facilities for instruction and do not mean to give any except through the books sold. Others pretend to give instruction in "sciences" with names and objects not known to the National Academy. Still others are so transparently dishonest as to openly request applicants to insert deceptive advertisements in local papers, while they themselves advertise free tuition, guarantee positions to students, and otherwise make promises impossible of fulfillment. Certain advertisers pretend to teach professions by correspondence in a few weeks which in the very nature of things can be learned only by years of practice and observation of practical work, in addition to the study of books. Nursing and medicine, in general, or in some of its specialties, are the favorite fields for this class of advertisers. An instance is mentioned in a medical journal of a school which offers to train a man to be a competent oculist for $7.50. Law is better adapted to correspondence work than any other profession, and several reputable schools are giving good instruction in that subject, but that field too has been invaded by the charlatan.

Correspondence instruction is sometimes undertaken by those who are not competent to teach what they claim to teach and are not even well enough acquainted with their subjects to know their own incompetence. A letter recently came to this Bureau from a young man in a small Western village asking his rights in advertising correspondence instruction. The letter in itself showed that the writer had but an insufficient education, though he stated that he had taught school for two years and held a third-grade certificate, yet he proposed to advertise instruction in forty subjects, including journalism, short-story writing, theory and practice of teaching, music, the commercial branches, and a long list of academic subjects, and the tenor of the letter showed that the writer honestly thought he could do what he expected to attempt. This man is but a representative of a class which is far too numerous in correspondence work, for in that line it has its best opportunity. Often these persons can not be charged with deliberate dishonesty, but nevertheless the student who pays them his money with the expectation of receiving satisfactory instruction is defrauded just as much as if he had patronized a swindler.

There is still another class of persons who may or may not be honest in intention, but who undoubtedly give very little in return for the tuition fees paid them. The instruction given by some of the so-called schools of caricature, designing, and illustration is exceedingly meager. One "complete course" consists of thirty sheets, each showing one or more pictures to be copied, specimens of lettering, examples of "tints," and a few paragraphs of instruction which are utterly inadequate to do the subject justice. The charge for the course is $25 cash, and more if paid in installments, and great claims are made in the advertising matter of the "school" for its

a First, the fees for each course must be paid in advance in the university while the schools allow payments in installments; second, 90 per cent of the students of the university are teachers, and as a class are far superior to those in the schools and more likely to remain to the end. Of the 4,221 enrollments in the University of Chicago, 1,968 courses were completed.

efficiency. But it is difficult to understand how such a course can be of material benefit, to say nothing of its ability to develop first-class illustrators, as the statements to prospective students seem to imply.

There are several correspondence schools of music which are advertised more or less extensively, and which claim to have many students. Undoubtedly there is much in the science of music that can be taught by mail as easily as any other subject can be taught by that method, and there are teachers of high reputation engaged in such instruction; but to teach the art, as distinguished from the science, in that way is quite another matter. It would certainly be difficult to accomplish it satisfactorily.

These instances represent the darker side of the picture, and they arise from the condition of affairs that exists in this country which makes it possible for a man to undertake any business he wishes so long as he does not actually violate the ordinary criminal laws. There is no supervision whatever on the part of any public officer over the work of correspondence schools. In most States they may with apparent ease even secure charters enabling them to grant degrees without restriction. It must be said that in very few instances does there seem to be a conscious disposition to abuse this power, yet the mere fact that degrees are given by many schools for work done wholly in absentia, and upon examinations at the pupils' homes under supervision that is plainly insufficient to insure honesty, is in itself suspicious.

Yet the fact remains that a very great work has been done and is being done by correspondence schools. Even inferior ones, with all their shortcomings, have been the means of good. True, they have discouraged many, but they have prompted others to seek instruction who have subsequently pursued their studies under more favorable auspices. The very fact that the watchword of all of them is "improve yourself," and that they constantly stimulate their patrons to study, is not to be overlooked. Then, when we consider the thousands to whom the better class of these schools have carried the means of improvement, and reflect that without the aggressive tactics of these enterprising "hustlers" the great majority of their students would have remained without any instruction at all, we can understand their value as a force in popular education. The stock-company schools have done for education a work in some degree similar to that of John Wesley and William Booth in the cause of religion. Their methods are startling to the conservative, but the sum total of their efforts have made for the good of mankind.

In regard to the achievements of institutions still higher in the category, namely, the Chautauqua College of Liberal Arts, the University of Chicago, Pennsylvania State College, and the like, nothing but good may be said. They have carried the higher education to thousands to whom college walls were but a dream. The figures of the correspondence work of those institutions speak for themselves.

TYPICAL SCHOOLS AND COURSES OF STUDY.

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, CORRESPONDENCE-STUDY DEPARTMENT.

[From a letter of Mr. Hervey F. Mallory, secretary, November 4, 1902.]

Our correspondence work differs radically from that conducted by schools offering instruction in a certain group of studies and calling that group a course. We do nothing of this kind, but simply offer a list of perhaps 250 different "courses," as we call them-that is, units of study-and allow anyone, anywhere, who feels qualified to do the work in any particular course or unit to take it on payment of the fees and compliance with general university admission requirements. This course or unit we denominate a major. It represents the amount of ground which a student in residence would be taken over in twelve weeks, averaging five hours of recitation per

week. One-half a course or unit we denominate a minor. Thirty-six of these units are required for our bachelor degree, and of the 36 a student may do 12 by correspondence. The balance must represent residence work, either here (and at least 9 must be done here) or at some other institution of recognized standing. You will see, therefore, that it was originally intended that correspondence work and residence work should supplement the one the other. No degree is granted for work done wholly in absentia.

The organization of the correspondence-study department was coincidental with that of the university as a whole. Both the residence and the correspondence work began on the same day-October 1, 1892. The beginnings were tentative, but success has marked the work from the outset, and it has grown in scope from a few courses or units offered in history and Latin to nearly 250 courses in 23 of the 31 departments in which instruction in the colleges of arts, literature, and science is now being given, and in 5 of the 6 departments of instruction in the divinity school. Printed instruction sheets, each containing a definite assignment of reading in standard text-books, references for collateral reading and questions based upon this reading, constitute the basis of instruction. Ordinarily a major course contains 40 such lessons and a minor course 20. Each lesson which the student submits receives the personal attention of the instructor who is announced to give the course, be he head professor or reader. After the student has completed the written work in the course he is granted a certificate testifying to this fact, signed by the president of the university and the secretary of the correspondence-study department, and stamped with the university seal. If he wishes university credit for his work he passes a final examination on the course, either here or in his own city, under supervision which has been approved by the university.

To all intents and purposes the correspondence courses are the same as the residence courses, except for the manner of communication. The instructors who give the correspondence courses are the same, in almost every case, as those who give the residence courses, which insures the highest grade of teaching, both as to matter and method.

Between October, 1892, and June 30, 1902, about 3,000 different students, coming from every State and Territory in this country, and many foreign countries, have availed themselves of the opportunities thus offered. More than 100 different vocations are represented in the student body, though perhaps 90 per cent of the number are teachers. Considering the fact that the scope of our work is limited to purely academic subjects, the general interest thus manifested is significant. Of the total number who have enrolled, approximately two-thirds have completed their courses.

[From "Announcements," Correspondence-Study Department, July, 1902.]

The general plan for university extension teaching.—All nonresident work of the University of Chicago is conducted through the university extension division. The university extends it teachings beyond its class rooms in two ways: (1) By lecturestudy courses; (2) by correspondence-study courses. The scope of the correspondence-study department is explained in the following paragraphs:

1. The correspondence work in general.-Experience has shown that in many lines of study correspondence instruction secures results highly satisfactory both to the student and to the instructor. Direction and correction may be given oftentimes as effectively by written as by spoken word.

2. Purpose and constituency. This department of the university extension division does not provide a curriculum leading to a degree, but furnishes a list of courses from which the student may choose such as will afford helpful and stimulating study. It aims to offer anyone anywhere the opportunity of securing instruction from specialists.

The work appeals, therefore, to the following classes: (1) Students preparing for college; (2) college students who are unable to pursue continuous resident study; (3) grammar and high-school teachers who have not had and can not avail themselves of resident college instruction; (4) teachers and others who have had a partial college course and wish to work along some special line; (5) instructors in higher institutions who desire assistance in the advanced study of some special subject; (6) professional and business men who wish technical advice; (7) ministers and Bible students who would fit themselves better to use the sacred Scriptures; (8) all who desire a broader knowledge or a more thorough scholarship.

3. Method of instruction.-Each correspondence course is arranged to cover the same ground as the resident course on the same subject, and consists, therefore, of a definite amount of work. The terms major (Mj.) and minor (M.) indicate that if the correspondence course were given as a resident course, it would run through twelve weeks or six weeks, respectively. Courses are of two kinds, formal and informal.